


Ninjago One Shots

by dommiewrites



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Ninjago, ninjago fanfiction, ninjago oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:13:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24662848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dommiewrites/pseuds/dommiewrites
Summary: Yes I'm writing moral of the story but my attention span of a fly can't focus on one project for too long I'll occasionally be updating this book with one shots I'll be updating every so often. Leave a vote or comment or even a request!*I do not own Ninjago folks*
Comments: 13
Kudos: 41





	1. 𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔤𝔬𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔫 𝔩𝔦𝔢𝔰

f o r g o t t e n l i e s

\---

Lloyd knew in that moment, that she was done for.

But even blocks away, standing on a trembling building and staring at the collapsing apartment under her feet, they both knew. _He still loved her._ And despite everything he's tried-forgetting her, blaming her, lying to himself, he can't _stop._ No matter how hard he wanted to, she had said it herself.

He cared for her.

Her eyes widened, locking with his. Somehow, her hair was still pin-straight and glaringly white. Harumi's eyes flicked down to the crumbling apartment, fear apparent and tears glistening in her eyes. How the hell Lloyd could tell this, he didn't know. It was like Zane's raven vision had suddenly turned on.

The building's frame completely shattered and the cracked concrete spread like a web over the walls. Then, in a span of four short, heart-stopping seconds, it crashed to the ground and she disappeared amongst the rubble, and Lloyd's heart dropped.

Skylor groaned from beside him, and instantly his battle side was switched on, though a little dazed, because logic told him that yes, Harumi was _dead_ , but then that nagging voice in his head insisted _no_.

Lloyd looked back, once, at the remains of the destroyed building and shuddered at the terrifying roar of despair that rang out through Ninjago. _His father cared for Harumi more than he did his real son._ Anger fired up through him, and that second of hate-filled thought ran through his mind, faltered and then halted completely.

**one. year. later.**

One year. Lloyd leaned back in his chair, jiggling his leg uncontrollably. How had he not known? _The police didn't want anyone to know._ Why, all of a sudden after Prime Empire did they finally decide to tell him, that Harumi, the previous Jade Princess of Ninjago, was _alive_?

The word sat heavy with him. He had known, one year ago, that Harumi was alive when everyone else had looked him in the eye, pity apparent, and told him _she's gone._ Waiting outside in the most inconspicuous clothes he owned-black pants, a white shirt and green hoodie, Lloyd's heart was racing faster and faster with every second passing.

After the... _incident_ , as he called the Prime Empire boss fight, Nya and Jay hadn't spoken a word to him about it, the silence speaking volumes. That was the problem. He _wanted_ to talk about it, but every time the words came to his mind, his throat choked up and that was that.

_You care for me._

"Lloyd?" He jumped to his feet, his eyes meeting a doctor dressed in a stark white labcoat over blue scrubs.

"Yep, that's me." His voice was stronger than expected.

"She's inside." the doctor didn't quite meet his eyes, and just as he pushed the door open, she stopped him. "She's not the same."

He shook off her words with a quick nod-plenty of people hadn't been the same for him recently, for example, his father. When he stepped inside, he struggled to keep his poker face calm. The room was white-everything inside was white, the walls, the ceiling, the floor. The single window in there had the blinds pulled down, the windowsill holding a potted succulent and a wooden clock. The head of Harumi's bed was pushed up against the wall on the right, a bedside table on the left. Her red face paint was wiped clean off her face, and Lloyd's mind went back to the only times he'd seen her without makeup, feeding to poor or on their desperate mission for the third Oni mask.

Harumi watched him with confused eyes, as if she recognised him, but didn't at the same time.

"You're Lloyd Garmadon." her voice was still the same, he noted, just without that tense, malevolent edge.

His head dipped, just slightly and he stepped closer to her bed. She flinched lightly, uncrossing her arms to show her hospital-issued clothes, baggy white pyjamas with blue stars flecking the pattern. Her hair had been pulled back into a hairstyle he recognised with a shock. One that she had been wearing under the cover as the Royal Princess of Ninjago. He was surprised that they let her hair be styled like that, hair pulled back into a high ponytail, bangs framing the sides of her face.

"Hi, Harumi." even when speaking her name, Harumi still looked at Lloyd with incredible suspicion.

She had lost a lot of weight, her wrists thin and stick-like, her face hollow and pallid. From the uneaten tray of sausages and mash discarded on the table beside her, he guessed it was voluntarily.

"It's funny, you know," her lilting voice jerked him out of his stare. "I remember you in bits and pieces."

His green eyes flicked over to hers, dark brown in innocence. _But she isn't innocent._ Her words, 'bits and pieces' alarmed him. Had she...lost her memory?

"I remember feeding the poor with you by the canals. And then I remember hating you," a cold, emotionless laugh. "Oh, god I hated you. Then I remember floating down a river with you."

It was as if she couldn't decide whether she hated him or liked him more, and had settled in between. _Has she really lost her memory?_ Some part of him, the one that had deceived believed this was all a ruse.

"I know what you're thinking. I have retrograde amnesia. They told me." cold, calculating words as she picked at her nails. "I remember everything from my childhood. The Great Devourer, my parent's death," empty, empty words, devoid of feeling. "But anything from a year ago or before? Hardly." another cool chuckle.

"I'm sorry." the words left his lips faster than he realised and Harumi's head snapped up.

"Don't bother with your lies."

He cocked his head. "And why would I lie?"

"You hate me." the words were clear, concise and had no feeling behind them but her hard stare. 

"I don't." again, his mouth moved quicker than his brain registered.

The forgetting girl blinked slowly, twice and then her shield of inscrutable expression fell back down.

The silence was tense until she spoke again. "Would you like to sit?"

Lloyd sank into the visitor's chair without a single word, watching Harumi's every move with wary eyes. It seemed so _wrong_ that she was sitting there calmly, not trying to kill him or attack him. Again, silence fell upon the room, and the two sat there, either reading a book or scrolling through their phone, just _there_.

That is, until, hours later when even Lloyd didn't realise how long he had spent in the ward.

"I should get going."

Harumi barely acknowledged his words, flipping to the next page of her book, which after much prying she'd told him was a fantasy novel.

He walked out the door, not quite feeling anything when her last words startled him.

"I'm sorry too."


	2. 𝔣𝔞𝔪𝔦𝔩𝔶 𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰

f a m i l y t i e s

\----

Kai had said, countless times, that he hated water.

He still did.

Everyone knew that, hell, even the gossip articles listed it under the fun facts column when it covered his journey as a ninja. So why did Sensei Wu decide to send him to Stiix, the city built on the Endless Sea where strangle weed resided in the murky waters? He'd nearly been dragged underwater by it when chasing after Morro and had only survived by making a deal with Ronin.

He hopped off his power dragon and let it dissolve back to wherever it came from. He grimaced at the tangle of strangle weed that was snaking up a nearby pole and quickened his pace.

"We are concerned by the rising level of crime in Stiix, Kai. Seeing as you're the only free ninja right now it only makes sense for you to go there." Wu had insisted, pushing a gleaming katana into his hands.

So now Kai was standing outside the dusty windows of Ronin's old shop. The bastard spent most of his time making sure his shop made profits plentiful seeing as he owned the majority of Steep Wisdom. Kai crossed the raised platform that ran through the city, serving as the main street, and kept an eye out for anyone doing crime-related things.

Yeah, he needed coffee.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a man in a beanie, a brown bag slung over his shoulders with the contents squirming around. _Here we go again._ He flipped on his mask and darted over to the man, who was sitting on an old crate in the alleyway shiftily, nudging the wriggling bag with his foot.

"I'm afraid I'll have to stop you there. I'm guessing that whoever or whatever's in your bag-"

"Smwhovter!" cried a muffled voice indignantly.

"Whoever," he confirmed, drawing his blade, "Isn't exactly happy about being kidnapped."

"She's not being kidnapped," growled beanie-man, palming a bat in the most non-threatening way possible. "She ran _away_ from home!"

A bedraggled head pops out the top of the bag. "Yeah, after he threatened to marry me off to some rich old dude!"

"Isn't that what you wanted?" frowned the beanie-man. Her father or brother possibly.

Weighing the katana in his hands, Kai's eyes narrowed. It could either be a family drama or something deeper. He'd stick around.

"No," fumed the girl, climbing out of the sack. "What is wrong with you James? Why would I let father marry me off to a random guy? You know I want to get out of Stiix and I saw this as an opportunity. Why can't you understand? A year ago you wanted to move with me, and now you're-" she choked up, and Kai moved to step away. Family drama, definitely. And he had enough of that. Also what kind of brother tied up his sister in a bag?

But James' hand latched onto his forearm and tugged him back.

"We need a mediator before _someone_ blows up." he said snarkily.

"I have other things to do you know-"

At both their steely glares, he quieted and drew an orange crate towards himself and sat down. The tension in the air was thick, hell, Master Wu's staff could slice through it easily. Nervously, he ran a hand through his hair. He was not trained for this. How to befriend an enemy? Yes. How to do spinjitzu? Yes. How to use a plethora of weapons and disarm a person in seconds? Yes. How to settle a sibling rivalry? No. Kai and Nya were the only siblings on the whole team, which usually meant the others took turns in being the umpire in their fighting matches.

"It's not that simple little sister. Father wants me to take over the family business. You know that Cara,"

Cara rolled her eyes and her fingers jumped into air quotes "Family business. More like-"

James shot her a quelling look and her jaw locked, her hands bunching her unruly ginger hair back into a bun.

"And I can't just run from Stiix. Our ancestors have lived here their whole lives and survived just fine." He countered with an adjustment to his beanie.

"Which is exactly why I don't want to be in the family business," more air quoting and vigorous hand gestures. "I want a life better than smuggling wares around Stiix and pretending everything's fine with mother and father. I want out, Jas."

With the mention of the presumed nickname, James cleared his throat and looked around warily. Kai looked everywhere but the seething siblings and tapped his foot like he did when he was nervous.

"Look a year ago, I would have fully understood what you want to do, but now is not the time Cara. You can't just run away from the Karelli family like it's nothing. If I could, I'd let you go-"

 _Karelli._ The name rang a bell, and Kai finally landed on the information. The Karell gang were smugglers for weapons and magical weapons, known for their cut throat attitude and harsh treatment. Years ago, Zane had found a dead Karelli member who apparently had been a traitor to the clan.

"But you can!" butted in his sister, tugging on her poofy hair bun. "You can come with me! We can get jobs in the city like we planned, you can work on your songs and I can work on my med degree. Being a Karelli doesn't mean you're one for life."

James sucked in a sharp breath and yanked up the sleeve of his hoodie to reveal two scythes crossed and a motto underneath tattooed, the skin still raw around it. Cara let out a soft gasp, followed by a tearful " _No_." of disbelief. Kai got up and moved to leave. He had stayed here way too long and he had some baddies to catch. Again, James pulled him down and the tired, sleep deprived ninja obeyed.

"You said you'd wait another year." choked out Cara.

James looked as if he was about to burst into tears as well. "He insisted. He said that now was just as a good time as next year. I'm a Karelli for life, Caz. But you don't have to be." His last words were filled with determination, and he surged to his feet, pulling Kai and Cara along with him.

"You, promise you'll get her out of here safely. Once he learns that you're gone he'll know you've escaped to the city." James jabbed a finger in Kai's chest and turned to Cara, his eyes softening. Kai blinked twice, slowly. If James let his sister go, there was a good chance he'd end up dead, but he kept quiet.

"But he'll know that you let me go Jas!" Cara's voice was barely above a whisper and cracked half way through. "Come with me. He'll kill you." she pleaded again desperately.

Her brother shook his head and stood a little taller. "He can't kill me yet. I'll make up an excuse and say that one," a finger to Kai, "Got the better of me, blame him in some way. We both knew it would always be you who got out Caz. Do this for me, please." James begged, letting a tear trickle down his bearded face. "Once all the drama dies down I'll try and contact you through him." He jerked his head at Kai, and Kai blanched. He _did_ have a name.

Cara's hands trembled and she bit her lip. James shoved a bag, probably her stuff, in her hands, and she slung it over her shoulder with the same determined glare both siblings possessed. Her hard demeanour cracked for a second as she flung her arms around her brother and squeezed him tight.

"Go, Caz."

"Love you James."

"I love you too sis."

And then the Karelli clan member scurried away down the alley, and Kai was left with a crying redhead, an insatiable desire for coffee, and a very confused, befuddled mind.

**two. years. later.**

Kai's heart sunk into his shoes as he read the newspaper article. Cara, who he had kept in contact with, was going to shatter. James hadn't contacted him since last year, with good news. _Good_ news. But this was not.

_James Oliver Karelli was well and truly dead._


	3. 𝔴𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 ?

w h e r e a r e y o u ?

\---

(set sometime after Cole becomes human again)

Cole was fairly sure this was a good idea. 

But he was running out of chalk and his fingers were getting sweaty. 

This hadn’t been his usual climb, but he’d wanted to push himself hard. If anything, he could argue that it was training for having actual, solid fingers again. He found a good hold for his right hand on the jutting outcrop and hung there for a second, twisting around to use the rest of his chalk. 

From there, he had to use a lot of his upper body strength, lots of swinging and praying that the rock wouldn’t crumble when he was this high up. No, Cole wasn’t afraid of heights but he  _ was  _ afraid of the roaring river crashing beneath him. 

He wasn’t exactly sure as to why Sensei Wu had given him a week off, but from the array of pitying looks the others had given him around the monastery he could guess why. Sure, he’d dropped a few expensive looking things and had walked into walls and doors but he  _ was getting there okay? _

Cole grunted, feet scrabbling around to find a hold-this particular climb was made up by a series of extremely smooth rock with few grooves and crannies. Finally, he managed to shove his toes into a tiny hole, and started climbing again with new found energy. The sun was beginning to set, and a chill was working its way down to where Cole was clinging onto the mountain of rock.

At last, he managed to reach the peak in time. It wasn’t much of a peak, it wasn’t pointy at all, just flat rock and a few boulders of the same red-brown mineral. He leaned up against the biggest rock, stripping off his sweat-soaked singlet and laid it over a nearby boulder to cool off. Unbuckling his chalk pouch, he set it on the ground and activated his lava punch with a little trouble - first try, his fists missed each other completely. As the glowing veins appeared along his arms, Cole pounded a small rock into fine dust, watching the glow fade out before scooping the makeshift powder into the bag for the climb down.

The sun dipped down just below the trees, the top burning a yellowish orange, brushstrokes of orange and pink blending into a beautiful ombre above it. The cold breeze was welcome, even in just his shorts he was still running hot. His fingers traced in the leftover dust of the rock, drawing patterns and swirls absentmindedly. Like always, his mind wandered to his mother, the  _ exact  _ reason he went climbing (Well, also to let off pent up anger by bashing a rock).

In all his years (god, that made him sound old), Cole still wasn’t sure  _ why  _ his mother had left. A large part of him suspected that she hadn’t meant to get pregnant, gotten scared and ran off, leaving his father, Lou, to look into the future and decide that Cole was going to become the greatest Royal Blacksmith that had graced the earth.  _ If  _ his mother had told his father that she was an earth elemental, then Lou decided that a dancing career would be the furthest thing from that.

Then Cole had disappointed him.

The face Lou had made shattered Cole’s heart. He would  _ never  _ be good enough for him. And despite the fact that Lou had openly said that yes, he approved of Cole being a ninja, but he could see the disappointment lingering in his eyes. Whenever Cole found the time to visit, Lou would always hover around his dancing trophies and awards, casting gloomy eyes at the practicing students he’d tutor, and then back at Cole.

And then there was his mother. Cole had decided, years ago, that if she didn’t want to come looking for him, then he wouldn’t go looking for her either. Well, that had been a big, fat, lie. In his first year of being at the ‘dance academy’, he went searching for his mother. The problem was, at the time he had no idea that his mother was an earth elemental, he didn’t even know that  _ he  _ was an elemental. It had been a goose chase, a wild goose chase that ended up with him going nowhere and his father showing up to watch his first performance. Cole had become excellent at coming up with excuses, little things like,  _ oh, I have four assignments on the history of blah blah some dance term,  _ or,  _ man, I twisted my ankle bad and you know how important ankles are. _

Cole wanted to cry right there and now, but his stupid pride was sure that somehow someone would see. But that was Cole’s problem. He was always too aware of everything, too noticing, too scared to mess up again, because somehow it would end up being  _ his  _ fault. It didn’t help that he had no one to talk to properly, he was one too bottle everything up and then explode because he didn’t know how to explain his feelings.

He often took to wood chopping, the simplest of activities which allowed him to get his anger and unsaid feelings out. One day, he’d decided to try and carve something out of an end bit, and had ended up with an exact replica of how Rocky had been when he was younger. Cole was also sure that he certainly didn’t get that skill from his father, Lou was graceful and all but dropped his muffins ten times a day. Which meant it led back to his mother. Of all the things, Cole had never divulged the fact that he often carved little flowers or ducks to calm himself down, because he knew the others would bully him into showing them his craft.

Cole’s heart tightened and twisted, his gut doing the same. If it wasn’t for the others, god, then where would he be? 

He was ready to give right up, try to forget his parents and pretend to move on like he’d done countless times before. Then the rock beneath him shook, two heavy footsteps landing behind him. He yanked his singlet on, already moving into an attack position. His hands felt empty without a weapon. He whirled around, froze and felt his brain numb and his body lose any feeling whatsoever.

  
What was  _ she  _ doing here?


	4. 𝔴𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔩𝔦𝔨𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔭𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢 𝔢𝔪𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔢?

w o u l d y o u l i k e t o e n t e r p r i m e e m p i r e ?

\---

Sometimes, as horrible as it may have sounded, Jay wanted to be back in Prime Empire. In Prime Empire, he was in his element (fantastic pun intended), he was Superstar Rockin’ Jay, leader of the League of Jay. In Prime Empire, he was  _ Jay,  _ super awesome guy who knew how to do everything. In Prime Empire, he knew what to do, he wasn’t nervous, he could do  _ anything.  _

Which was why this was such, and incredibly, Kai-worthy bad idea. But he wanted to escape from the bustle of Ninjago, even for just an hour every day. And that was why he was rebuilding the Prime Empire motherboard. Fiddling with the motherboard was tricky, but Jay had spent his entire life rebuilding broken things and wasn’t about to give up on Prime Empire so easy. The tweezers were a useful tool, because the board was fragile and most of the parts one of a kind. He’d managed to find replacements for just about everything, leaving the microprocessor, essentially the brain of the motherboard.

Hours later, after tinkering and double checking, Jay had finished repairing the motherboard. You might be wondering  _ where  _ he had managed to hide a big bulky arcade game, and the answer to that would be in the old dragon stables. Now that Ultra was gone, no one had the heart to clean out the stables or even try to find new dragons, which meant no one went there. Ergo, it was the perfect place to hide the arcade machine. Behind the stables was a tiny room where they used to store dragon feed and supplies, so Jay had managed to lug the machine up and into the room after deep cleaning it from the intense dragon smell. In there, he had a small chest of drawers stuffed with snacks and drinks, some tools and the game machine.

Clutching the motherboard close to his chest, he tip-toed out of his room and down the weed plagued path to the stables, sighed in relief that no-one was there, and then inserted the motherboard with crossed fingers. He’d managed to refigure it so instead of the 13th level glitch, it would instantly go to level 13. Hopefully.

“Would you like to enter Prime Empire?”

And in the exact same words as when he first passed level 13, he cheered “Heck yes!”

He punched the big red button in the middle, and the cool voice answered “Now entering Level Thirteen.”

And the front swung open, revealing blinding light. Without hesitation, Jay stepped in. He was ready to be Superstar Rockin’ Jay once again. Now, another question you might have is  _ how  _ the game was working again. Initially, Jay had run a scan of the database which revealed to him that not all of Unagami had escaped the digital paradise of Prime Empire. The guy had so many arms (figurative arms) controlling the game that he’d left behind all the parts unnecessary to his quest to find Milton Dyer. With those little bits and a  _ lot  _ of hard work, Jay had cobbled the good parts of Unagami together to recreate the AI without all the evil bits. Again, hopefully.

The blinding light eventually faded away, and Jay could feel himself falling through the air, and with an experienced grace, he landed in the spawn spot as he had done the first time. Looking down, he grinned and dusted off his clothes. His skin was now a light blue, a glowing headband keeping his tousled white hair out of his eyes and streaks of darker blue painted on. Entering stage right, welcome Superstar Rockin’ Jay. 

He decided to take a quick look around before heading to the League of Jay headquarters, he wanted to get a grasp of what Prime Empire was like now. He was keeping to the shadows and watching the streets for any signs of Red Visors or traces of Unagami in the system. After walking the usual perimeter scouting route of the League of Jay, he hadn’t seen a single enemy Red Visor and Jay was glad. Good to know his tech skills were up to par. 

What was even better was that there were still people here, not real people. But Jay could interact with them and play all the games and challenges. He tapped over his heart, brought up his stats and pumped his fist in glee. All of his near-maxed out stats were there, as well as four fresh new lives. He then searched up some easy challenges, scrolling past orc fighting, goblin chasing and gnome grouping to Game of Life. Just like the board game, but Prime Empire-ised and a  _ lot  _ more dangerous.

“All right folks, line up with your weapons and let’s see who rolls first!” boomed announcer, waving to the big board. There with six players, Jay included with their stats beside them and a virtual dice. Whoever rolled the highest would get to play first, and miss the first trap. Crossing his fingers, he held his glowing kusarigama tightly in one hand and watched as his dice rolled.  _ Three. Two. One.  _

“Aaaand that’s a solid six for Superstar Rockin’ Jay. Hard to beat, seeing as that’s the highest roll possible.” joked the announcer, gesturing for the rest of the rolls to continue.

“Ooof, sorry Karlee but that’s a low one.”

“Not bad, not bad, a four for Jackin’ Jason.”

“Very close Marilyn, a five, better watch out!”

“Ahhhh another one, sorry to disappoint Levi.”

“Three! That was the last roll, congrats Bitchin’ Bella. Superstar Rockin’ Jay, you’re up!”

Jay stepped up to the start square and waited patiently for the next roll.  _ Five.  _ He hopped over the lava pit easily, twisted around the spinning blades, walked two safe squares and then landed on a question space. 

“Alright Superstar Rockin’ Jay, here’s your question,” a digital card deck appeared on the board, the top yellow faced card lifting up and turning around to reveal the question. “If you were trapped in a world, how would you get home?”

“Get...home?” he muttered under his breath. “I’d either find the leader and make them send me home, or I’d go back the way I came.”

The three judges who scored your answers held up their signs.  _ Nine. Seven. Eight.  _

“Nice Superstar Rockin’ Jay, you’re safe. Marilyn, you’re up!”

_ How would you get home? _

It was then Jay realised his mistake.

_ How was he supposed to leave Prime Empire? _


	5. 𝖛 𝖆 𝖘 𝖎 𝖑 𝖔 𝖕 𝖔 𝖚 𝖑 𝖆 𝖕 𝖍 𝖔 𝖇 𝖎 𝖆

_-vasilopoulaphobia-_

_❝ ̶I̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶n̶a̶ something, ̶I̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ wanna feel_ _❞_

_❝_ _Something really real so that I can really_ _❞_

_❝_ _Feel like a person again_ _❞_

**_▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬_ **

**_Feel something_ **

**_0:00━━━━━━━━━0:45_ **

**_◅◅ ▷ ▻▻_ **

_❝ ̶I̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶l̶y̶?̶ ̶A̶l̶l̶alone_ _❞_

_❝_ _Heart made of_ ̶ _g̶l̶a̶s̶s̶, my mind of stone_ _❞_

_❝_ _Tear me to pieces, skin and bone_ _❞_

**_▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬_ **

**_Lovely_ **

**_0:00━━━━━━━━━0:45_ **

**_◅◅ ▷ ▻▻_ **

_D̸e̶m̸o̸n̷_ _human_ _d̸e̶m̸o̸n̷_ _human_

_Lord_ ̶ L̶l̶o̶y̶d̶ _Garmadon_

Lloyd Garmadon was exceptionally good at hiding everything. To the point, where almost like Zane and Pixal, he could flip his emotions on and off with a switch.

They usually stayed off.

He crouched lower on the roof, careful not to knock anymore shingles off, his back aching from the awkward position.

“ _Nothing_.” He whispered into the ear piece, his eyes scanning the street up and down. “Why am I doing this again?”

“Closure, Lloyd.” came Kai’s voice. “Getting over your vasilopoulaphobia.”

“Woah, calm down with the big words there.” joked Cole. “In all seriousness, what does that mean?”

“Vasilopoulaphobia: the fear of princesses.” interjected Zane in his usual matter-of-fact tone.

Lloyd could almost hear them all wince over the radio channel. Kai was a little brusque when it came to talking about her.

“I’m getting movement on thirty-fifth.” Pixal’s words jerked him upright, his training easily keeping him balanced on the slanted rooftop. “Lloyd, you’re closest. We can’t risk letting them get hurt.”

“Right.” A little distractedly, Lloyd worked his way down the side of the apartment block, his ninja gi extending over his fingers with grippy tips proved to be a useful alteration, on the part of Cyrus Borg.

“Give me the run down Pix.”

“Female figure, about 5’6, maybe ‘7, cloaked and reported holding a bulky object by a bystander. Currently tracking their path and they seem to be heading to the...skatepark?”

“Mhm.” He made his way on ground first, adding a somersault or a flip here and there, ignoring the startling red reflection of his eyes in windows, lights and screens with determination. From twenty-seventh, he switched to the roofs, swinging up there on cat-soft feet. If only he had those nine lives. He felt his muscles tighten, his teeth lengthen just a little bit at the sight of the posters and billboards as he passed by.

_Vasilopoulaphobia, the fear of princesses._

_One princess._ He tried to remind himself, leaping over a wide gap, letting the adrenaline push his body faster.

_You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all._

Ninjago City at night, was undeniably beautiful. So many colours it hurt his eyes, lights and horns blaring, the buzz of nightlife, the moon, pearl white, hovering over the city like a guardian, the place which he would protect with his life. He just wished it got into a little less trouble. He was close to the skatepark now, one that he usually visited, or at least used to.

He spotted the mark, his glowing eyes sharpening in the darkness as he silently jumped from balcony to balcony, switching between two buildings. Lloyd’s mask was already on. Long ago, he got used to the tightness, the restricted view, his hair matted down against his head, occasionally falling into the small gap for his eyes. She seemed to be fiddling with the unknown article, her cloak still on. He took this chance to creep up behind her, already reaching for one of his katanas when she swung around.

_Fuck, you’re losing you’re touch Garmadon-_

Something cracked against his face, and Lloyd tottered on the spot for a moment, utterly dazed as the world swam around him.

“Shit—crap on a cracker, dude, are you okay?”

Lloyd managed to prise his eyes open, failing to keep himself gasping from the blinding pain.

 _FIGHT!_ Screamed the ninja side of him.

 _PAIN!_ Countered the more human part.

He yanked off his mask, pressing it to the warm trickle of blood making its way down his temple.

“Holy—you’re the real deal, aren’t you?”

“What?” he managed to gasp out, blindly scrabbling around his utility belt for an instant ice pack. His eye was beginning to throb.

“You’re the Green Ninja.” she whispered. “I thought you were an insanely good cosplayer, oh my god, you’re bleeding—”

“S’okay,” he waved her away with the hand not holding the ice pack and mask to his hurting face. “Who are you?”

“Oh,” she seemed to straighten herself for a moment, her hands reaching up to adjust an invisible something on her head. Lloyd frowned. Was that a signal for someone hiding?

His good eye blinked twice, catching his reflection in the glass pane of the candy shop behind him. He did not look good. His gi was fine, no rips in the black fabric, the green sashes and folds all intact. His face was not faring so well, his mask pressed against his forehead, his heightened senses smelling the tang of his own blood. She’d hit him with a _skateboard,_ now in two craggy pieces. He looked at her again. She held herself up with an almost nervous composure, backbone straightened by false confidence Lloyd could pick out a mile away.

He used it himself, after all.

Then he realised who she was. He took in the posters and ads plastered to lamp posts and boards, pieced everything together and fought back the urge to scream and let his Oni side take over.

He’d been hit in the face with a skateboard by the new princess of Ninjago.

“Your Highness.” his body managed to clobber together a messy bow, and he clenched his teeth, running his tongue over the sharp points of canines. _Princess._

“You figured it out.” she sounded disappointed, flipping back her hood with an exasperated sigh to bend down and collect the fragments of her board. She looked different from all the media, a little less put together, her hair falling loose over her shoulders, her eyes with bags to rival his.

“You’re meant to be inside the palace, Princess.” His tone was nice and sharp. She pulled back a good metre from the change in his mood. Which she shouldn’t have seen at all, in fact. He considered bringing Neuro in to wipe her memory.

She humphed, holding up the two pieces of her board in front of Lloyd’s eyes.

“It’s broken.”

“Yes, I see that.”

“Because of you!”

“You _hit_ me with it.”

Lloyd was getting irritated. This _princess_ was wildly different from Harumi, apart from their whole sneaking-out thing. She was more forward, more annoying, less princessy and less _lovable_.

“I need a new board.” she declared, crossing her arms.

“You’re a princess,” he started dryly, taking his mask off his forehead to check if it was still bleeding. It was. He made a big show of dabbing it, wincing more dramatically than he would ever do. “Buy it yourself.”

“But _you_ broke it.”

“I thought we established that already.”

He apparently succeeded in annoying her, because she threw down the board onto the ground, exhaling loudly before slumping onto a stone bench.

“You think I wanted to be a princess?” She chuckled lowly, her voice empty, completely emptyof _anything_. Lloyd recognised the hollowness and was taken aback. Was that what he sounded like?

“I didn’t ask for _any_ of this, one day I’m skateboarding with my friends and getting ice cream, next I know, I’m being dolled up, being called _princess_ and _your highness_ and—” She took a gigantic, heaving breath and her face fell into her hands.

Lloyd froze there. What was he supposed to do? Awkwardly, he patted her on the back and hoped that was the extent of what he was expected to do.

“You think it’s nice, being looked at like I’m about to summon a demonic lord—” Lloyd could feel the pull, the yearning inside of him at the mention of Lord Garmadon. “Having whispers follow you anywhere you go, having the nobles turn up their noses at me ‘cause I’m not _princessy_ enough?”

“I’m sorry Your—”

“Don’t.” Her tone was equally as sharp as his was before. “Don’t apologise for something like that.”

“Okay.”

They both fell quiet for a moment, equally surprised at the princesses’ outburst.

 _She must have had that all bottled up for a while._ Lloyd summarised. He cleared his throat and prayed to the First Spinjitzu Master that he would not regret this.

“It’s not nice, being looked at like that.” He paused to sneak a look at her shuddering body. “Having people glare at you because they think you could turn on them at any moment.”

She stopped hiccuping.

“Being the Green Ninja is like…” he looked up to the night sky, trying to pinpoint his favourite stars and constellations winking back at him. “There’s so much weight on your shoulders. I mean, there hasn’t even _been_ a previous Green Ninja and this prophecy and the prophecy before are just fuel for their fire.”

“They expect so much of us.” whispered the princess, drawing her knees up to her chest.

He didn’t reply. Lloyd realised he was still rubbing soothing circles into her back. He didn’t stop either.

“Sometimes, I don’t know what to do,” he murmured softly, welcoming the chill of the night just so he could feel something _else_ to what he was feeling right now. “My team, they all look at me like I have some sort of power over what happens next, like I can see into the future and make sure everyone gets home safe.”

He paused as his memory rifled through all the life=threatening situations they’d been pushed through.

“And when they don't, they’ll blame me.”

“It do be like that tho.”

“What?” He jerked his head up from where he’d been staring at the marks in the ground. He could practically hear the ‘though’ being butchered down to ‘tho’.

“Sorry…” the princess struggled for words. “I’m not good with emotions. Or sympathy and all that stuff. I find it easier to just turn it all off.” She watched as a car passed by, the headlights dim as the sky darkened.

“It makes me less human though,” she added.

“Not all of us are human.” Lloyd replied quietly. “And sometimes it’s better to have it off. It hurts less that way.”

She nodded, picking at her nails.

“It’s going to bite us in the ass one day.”

“Karma’s a bitch.” he said simply.

“Karma’s a bitch.” she repeated softly, gazing up at the stars.

**A/N: look I love a good bit of angst and lloydie here can fit so much angst and trauma its no joke. anyways this oneshot was partly inspired by @samseaa (on wattapd) 's tbe (the buterfly effect) and especially the oneshot cause lloyd has princess phobia even though his hair is princess hair. anyways, harumi's a bitch, what's new? bye folks, until the next new moon when i post in her again**


	6. announcement

you might be thinking: woah, what?

my answer is yes

after over a year on Wattpad updating whenever I feel like it, I've finally gotten a posting schedule together.

So, as follows:

 **Monday:** moral of the story

 **Tuesday:** core four fun

 **Wednesday:** no update

 **Thursday:** moral of the story

 **Friday:** core four fun

 **Saturday:** bonus day! (a chance for these stories to get updated: vacation, ninjago oneshots, tmc oneshots and tales of tears and embers)

 **Sunday:** no update

This starts taking place next week by the way, so look out on Saturdays for bonus chapters, then again, I'm working on five other stories as well.

until then folks


	7. 𝔴𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔦𝔣?

_w h a t i f ?_

**an au set after the end of season ten (spoilers for 10-13)**

**|××××××××××|**

_in which Lloyd Garmadon chooses to go with the First Spinjitzu Master, leaving behind his beloved city and friends, simply because he can_

**|××××××××××|**

_imagine growing up a villain, to a hero, and realising, that maybe, just maybe, you should have stayed in that boarding school for bad boys_

**|××××××××××|**

_lloyd garmadon did not ask for this reality, for his destiny. so when the chance comes for him to escape, does he hesitate?_

**|××××××××××|**

**Wu**

Lloyd's pulse was growing weaker as each second ticked past, yet Wu still clung onto his wrist, hoping his father wouldn't take someone from him again. Ten seconds passed, and his next pulse did not come.

The funeral was a melancholy affair. Behind the monastery was a green expanse of grass stretched as wide as it's length. It was often used for open air training when they required more space. They buried his nephew under the lone cherry blossom tree swaying gently in the wind there. There was, of course, reason to be sad, but each of the people gathered around the grave pulled it from different parts of Lloyd.

Wu, for one, couldn't stand losing another student, especially his nephew. And he knew, at some point or the other, that his father would offer them a passage to a land of evergreen grass, blue skies, puffs of marshmallow clouds and floating islands. It was, essentially, a promise of happiness. But happiness without friends, until the First Spinjitzu Master decided to grace a worthy, dying person with his presence and ask if they'd like to join him in that paradise. It wasn't what some people would call heaven, perhaps a bit more freedom.

Wu only knew so much, having been offered paradise once. Travelling through the time vortex, he'd eventually passed out, and his father had visited him. He'd declined. Rather stay a baby and somehow help his students, protect them, because that was why he was there. To teach, and to protect, although he had a feeling that it was his students doing the teaching now.

So Lloyd dying in their arms came as an unpleasant surprise, simply because he was _Lloyd_. The Green Ninja was an immortal creature of being, and Lloyd was Lloyd. They'd brought him up since he was a kid, recusing him from volcanoes, Serpentine, battling the Stone Army, the Overlord, Prime Empire, Crux and Acronix, even his own father. The left him in his gi, with no sign of injury on the surface. He'd simply chosen to pass.

Wu could see why, but he wanted to whack his nephew over the head with his staff. He'd left behind his family, his friends, and Ninjago. But Wu knew why, and he resented yet also respected Lloyd for it. Some may say that the destiny to be a Chosen One was a blessing, but to be the Green Ninja was a curse playing the pretty part of an angel. At first, Morro, so eager to prove himself, seemed to be the perfect candidate, perhaps the only difference apart from their powers, being matched well in highly trained combat, was their desire.

Morro saw _his_ destiny as the Green Ninja as an exciting prospect, and he trained hard for it, pouring his heart and soul into training and mastering his element of the wind. Lloyd saw it as his destiny doomed. He had to fight his father, his _own_ father who was crippled with evil. And the jump in his bodily age, compared to his metaphysical aspect scurrying to keep up with the dangers thrown at him. Morro was not privy to the other side of the Green Ninja.

Wu hoped that Lloyd would have hesitated, to stop, and think of the ones he loved before going with his grandfather, for he may have just cursed himself again.

At the funeral, few words were spoken. They forwent the speeches like the ones they'd tearfully prepared for Zane's funeral after the Overlord, as tears choked their throats and held them silent. Misako was in denial, and she refused to attend. Wu and his students each tried in turn, but she stayed inside the monastery, silent as the night, praying to the First Spinjitzu Master to _let her have her boy back_. But Lloyd was already in his clutches, and unless one of them offered death to see if they were honourable enough to be granted access, there was no bringing Lloyd back.

Shouts of suggestions, pleads for Traveller's Tea barraged his ears everyday, and everyday he turned them down. It was worse than the Never Realm. You could not go without the permission of Wu's father, and you could not leave, full stop. A binding curse, perhaps. Misako thought of it like every other situation where the ninja were in trouble. They could find a solution. Although it broke his heart to tell his team, there was no solution.

Plainly, Lloyd was dead, and that wasn't going to change.

They were in mourning, but they had to address the situation. If they let slip that the Green Ninja, protector of Ninjago City and hailed hero, had passed, crime would run rampage. But they could only hold on for so long, let excuses slide, scrabble for threadbare reasoning for Lloyd's sparse appearance. First, by Wu's suggestion, a month after his nephew's death, they let their closer friends and elemental masters know.

Dareth, as expected, reacted dramatically, and declared a new drink in his bar in honour of the Green Ninja to be served _after_ they told the public. Neuro, somehow, had known beforehand, and his response was short, but he conveyed sympathy for a boy he'd fought for. Karlof had returned to Metalonia, and left no word for his return. They found the masters of Light, Speed, and Smoke, lounging in a bar. The cockiest of the other elemental masters, they took it well, though they frowned and paid their condolences. Their flurry of emotional whispers when their backs were turned was enough to tell.

The Masters of Sound and Gravity seemed at a loss for words, but they were never particularly close with Lloyd. They recognised him as a hero, but as an enemy in the tournament. Contact was scant with particular elemental masters after their short alliance to defeat Chen. Shade, Chamille and Tox didn't appear overwrought with sadness, though they knew the impact of the Green Ninja on Ninjago. A short, meaningless apology. None of them could do anything.

Skylor, Master of Amber, was the last to find out. She had been busy juggling her responsibilities with Chen's Noodle House, amongst other things. Kai slipped in one day and came out, his eyes red-ringed. She was closer to Lloyd than the other masters had been, protecting him from Garmadon, running with their lives, risking her own to poison herself. Garmadon himself disappeared before Lloyd's pulse had slowed to a stop. Wu thought nothing less of an emotionally devoid man, but he must have felt _something_.

The city did not take it well.

The deaths of the reclusive royals, then of their famed Green Ninja? It was to be expected. It was not open uproar, the mourning slinked through the streets and took everyone with grief. The city mourned for a month, extra for the ninja, more time to think over what they could have done differently to save their little brother. Wu had done so many times himself, and arrived at the indisputable conclusion that there had been no solution. Lloyd had tapped into the scraps of his Golden power, to save Ninjago. He could have come back, been welcomed home with sobs and laughter, but he didn't.

It wasn't long before crime crept back into streets and alleyways, determined to gain a foothold in the sorrow-wrecked city. They could benefit from death.

The ninja defeated Asphera half heartedly. She complained loudly of their lacking spirit and motivation, and Nya had simply snapped back _'bring back Lloyd, and we'll fight'_.

Prime Empire, perhaps, was the start of their healing process. The ninja took turns leading their team, and it seemed like Jay had been the hero of that adventure. Unagami knew nothing of Lloyd, and maybe that was why it was easier for the ninja inside of the game to defeat him. They experienced death in every way but the truth. On the outside, in the real world, the Mechanic realised he could use Lloyd against them. The torture of jibes against his nephew broke Wu, and Zane gave in after that.

Shintaro had been another matter. Wu watched from afar, as he truly realised how useless he was to his students. He let them die in Prime Empire, and he let Lloyd die. But he was soon engrossed in the mystery of the mountain, against the Skull Sorcerer and finding that he _could_ help his students, and became intrigued in the art of Spinjitzu Burst. Cole had gone above and beyond, facing his mother's death in stride, determined to save the fate of the races below the mountain like she had done, to make her proud.

It was when they were flying to their next inevitable adventure, had they realised that day was the anniversary of Lloyd's death.

It was bitter, and many memories were overturned, but one thing was clear.

Lloyd Garmadon died selfishly.

He saved himself, for once.

**|××××××××××|**

_I imagine Death so much that it feels more like a memory,_

_When's it gonna get me? In my sleep, seven feet ahead of me?_

_If I see it coming, do I run or do I let it be?_

_Is it like a beat without a melody?_

**▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬**

**My Shot,** **_Hamilton_ **

**3:52 ━━━━━━━━━ 5:33**

**◅◅ ▷ ▻▻**

**A/N: yesterday i had a pretty shite day, and i decided to channel it into some** **_sad_ ** **writing, because that's very healthy. I came up with the concept of Lloyd actually accepting the FSM's proposal to join him as soon as I started writing. I knew that it was going to be about like, a death, or something, then i realised how big of an opportunity it was for lloyd. The show didn't really explore the rest of it that much afterwards, and I got to thinking.**

**Many people see being the Green Ninja as greatness, but I think Lloyd sees it as a curse. I also wanted to explore the idea of the FSM like...sort of being evil? I feel it was almost a trick when he asked Lloyd to join him, and how knows, maybe i'll continue this au if yall like it! Mos will be updated on monday with another chapter, and cff is being updated today as well! (this isn't published on sat cause i didn't want to wait that long, so, hrgh)**

**-dommie out**


	8. 𝔴𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔦𝔣 𝔭𝔱.2

**an au set after the end of season ten (spoilers for 10-13, pt2 of** **_what if_ ** **)**

**|××××××××××|**

_ in which Lloyd Garmadon chooses to go with the First Spinjitzu Master, leaving behind his beloved city and friends, simply because he can _

  
  


**|××××××××××|**

_ he took the escape with a breathe between the offer and his acceptance _

**|××××××××××|**

_ can you blame him, really? blame a boy for wanting everything to stop, even for just a moment? _

**|××××××××××|**

_ but what else did the first spinjitzu master say? _

**|××××××××××|**

**lloyd**

It was awfully warm in this paradise. Well, ‘paradise’. It was hard to shake off years of ninja training after all, and suspicion clung to Lloyd. With a yelp of surprise, he tore at his gi as it shimmered, the green turning to white, black cuffing the lining, and his dragon remaining the same winking gold. His grandfather remained standing still, his hands resting behind him, the braid of his white hair cut off by the hat his uncle wore too.

_ His uncle _ . And—his family. He’d left them behind without a single, sickening thought to escape the burden that hounded him.

“Come, my grandson.” his grandfather beckoned him with a snap of his fingers. Lloyd scrambled to stand by his side, not daring to move his eyes from where he stared at the magnificent dragon prowling before him.

“You should call me by my true name. Poino.”

“Poi-no.” said Lloyd carefully, drawing out the syllables. 

“Yes.”

He said nothing more, and Lloyd scuffed at the ground with the heel of his shoes uncomfortably. The dragon before him looked nothing like Firstbourne. She commanded immediate attention with her blaring red scales and smouldering eyes. This dragon was smaller - stealthier, his pale orange scales almost shimmering into the sun-warmed sky behind him.

“He is extraordinary, no?”

Lloyd sucked in a breath as Poino’s dragon stalked forwards, bowing his head. He reached up, gently brushing the tips of his fingers on the straight bone of his nose. He responded by lightly nuzzling against his hand, flipping it so his palm was pushed against his nose. Still Lloyd did not face his grandfather. Perhaps in fear and awe mixed to a troublesome concoction.

“Does he have a name?”

Poino cocked his head. Lloyd could sense it, his Oni heritage jumped at the slight movement from behind him.

“Does he need one?”

“So you just...call him...Dragon?”

Poino seemed miffed.

Lloyd stayed there, swaying slowly in time with the long blades of grass tickling his legs through his gi. The sun hadn’t moved, he noticed with great interest. The clouds just lowered and lifted themselves, fluttering of their own accord. ‘Dragon’ stepped away, pawing at the ground with a low whine. Poino sighed, very loudly.

“Fine, Dragon. We’ll go.”

“Uh, go where?”

The First Spinjitzu Master snapped his fingers again, and suddenly, Lloyd was falling through a void of pure darkness.

His scream was locked into his chest, he was plummeting far too fast to bellow out in fear, risking loss of oxygen and his training had him controlling his breathing, assessing the situation, and balking at the nothingness staring back at him. He barely contained a swear as he twisted back around, where Poino was sitting calmly on the back of Dragon, simply staring ahead.

It took a combined tactic of doggy paddling and pure guessing to get over to Dragon, clinging onto a spike jutting out of his back. Dragon continued his mindless flap through nothing for a good five minutes in which Lloyd was contemplating annoying Poino into telling him their destination when they were spiralling again, and they landed in a meadow of ticklish grass.

The same world as before, just all the islands had been connected together. Dragon, in doggish nature, padded around in a circle as the grass bent around his gigantic figure, then settled down in a curl to sleep. Poino sat down, and suddenly there was a teapot steaming over a campfire, and he settled down with his grandfather, crossing his legs in meditation.

His eyes closed, and Lloyd let the breeze wind through their tiny makeshift campfire and he didn’t see the flames die out and snap back to life because his eyes were respectfully shut. But Lloyd was never a patient child, or teenager. Maybe being the Green Ninja should have given him a good dose of patience, in fact, it did the opposite. He just wanted to  _ fight  _ and  _ fight  _ until everything was over so he could relax, read comics and binge eat candy.

His leg began to jiggle to give him something to do, and it had been jiggling relentlessly showing no signs of stopping when Poino released another long suffering sigh, and Lloyd peeled one eye open.

“Your father raised a  _ very _ irritating child.”

“My father didn’t raise me at all. Maybe because he wasn’t raised all that well either.” he snapped back, eyes widened at the direct insult. Poino didn’t reply.

“Sorry.” Lloyd muttered, though he didn’t feel sorry at all.

His father, his wonderful evilness, hardly felt like his father anymore. Lloyd was sick of hoping, sick of fighting for him when he wouldn’t even remember those precious moments. It was tiring. And if you dwindled it down, it was really Poino’s fault. He was too busy, letting the Great Devourer slither around the monastery backyard, he was too busy with his work to care for his boys, and he was too busy to watch a boy consume himself with evil venom.

But Lloyd was tired of fighting, so he didn’t put up a fight, and hoped Poino would have a better explanation in due time.

The tea was ready, and Poino took a lengthy minute, drawing out the steeping and the pouring into one cup for himself. He noticed Lloyd uncomfortably loitering around and snapped his fingers once more. Two rolls of tent gear and a pile of camping stuff crashed to the ground.

“There you go.” Poino turned to settle against the curve of Dragon’s wing, sipping on his tea. “I don’t feel like sleeping out in the open tonight. It gets quite chilly.”

Lloyd huffed to himself, drawing the pile of camping gear over to him. There were rolls for two spacious one man tents, thick sleeping bags and mats amongst the other things. Unfortunately, the tents did not come with instructions. Despite what many may think, ninja don’t camp. They either stay in the monastery, their flying ship or are far too busy running for their lives to learn how to set up a beastly tent.

Lloyd got himself caught on a peg a total of twenty three times, got an extendable pole up his sleeve and whacked himself in the face with the blunt end of a hammer. Ninja coordination skills were  _ not  _ helping here. He did, eventually, manage to win the match with the tents and had wrestled the two one mans into their finished form. He even unrolled the mats and sleeping bags inside.

His hair mussed and hanging in his eyes, the low glow of the fire died down to mere embers. Poino was still sipping from his tea, extremely slow and measured mouthfuls, and Dragon was still napping. Lloyd missed Ultra. The four headed dragon, although it pooped a lot, had been one of many responsibilities he’d had to manage around being a kid, Ultra was a treasured memory. When Lloyd found out from Kai, Cole, Jay and Zane that Ultra had been captured - and  _ killed  _ by the hunters in the First Realm, he had been tempted to rip a portal open with his bare hands to find his pet.

Dragons were ethereal, eternal beings there were to be respected as companions. To  _ kill  _ them and to use them as  _ slaves  _ was a direct insult to Lloyd. Even only a quarter Dragon still meant he had a link to that lineage. Then there was his other side. His Oni side. Which had protected him for the little time he’d spent in the Oni-infested city he’d abandoned.

A sad smile crossed his face, illuminated by flickers of the dying fire. He’d been thrust into a destiny he never wanted. Maybe he should have let Morro take complete form. He wouldn’t have to deal with this - with  _ any  _ of this. He’d been a whiny, bratty kid who’d wanted to take over the world just like his old man, starting small with candy, progressing to commanding tribes of legendary snakes. And then Kai had rescued him from another life-threatening situation, revealing his future as the  _ Green Ninja _ .

A position his friends, teammates,  _ brothers  _ all had been vying for. He would have happily given it up after the first few tragedies. The Great Devourer tormenting the city - he’d been a powerless child with a powerful destiny - and his father, then  _ aging  _ and fighting the pains of his new physical body and how his head had hurt  _ so  _ much all the time. Losing Zane, then finding him as a hoarse-throated boy in a too-big body. The Tournament of Elements and the pain that came with his powers benign  _ ripped  _ from his body, he would gladly have died there to stop the pain tearing at his body. It was like being struck by lighting, burned by fire, buried under rocks and frozen by ice all at once. A curse of the core elements.

Being possessed from Morro was...strangely freeing. He could do nothing but thrash around in the small cage of his mind that he was restricted to, only for his family and friends. Not because the world needed him, not because he’d given everything to defeat the Overlord, but because he couldn’t stand seeing their broken faces. Morro, in the times he actually hadn’t been a jerk, was unnervingly fragile. Determined to let his boss through to Ninjago, his mind was focused on that. And snips of his thoughts and memories has slotted through the bars of Lloyd’s mental cage to poke at experimentally.

Morro wanted to be the Green Ninja so badly, and Lloyd couldn’t deny that the non-corrupted version of him would have been good. Maybe better than him, even. And he cursed the writers in the Cloud Kingdom for writing  _ Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon  _ into that fated prophecy’s meaning like it meant nothing to them. It didn’t. As far as Lloyd was concerned, they were pompous pricks high up in the sky dilly-dallying about saving the world and he  _ hated  _ them.

Crux and Acronix, two time stealing brothers, had the most impact on Kai and Nya. But losing his mentor and uncle in a void of space and time was yet another reason why Lloyd Garmadon  _ hated  _ being the Green Ninja. The universe had a habit of taking the people he loved to spite him. The Great Devourer - and his father - had come back to bite him in the butt when the Sons of Garmadon finally struck. And Harumi. White haired, princess, innocent, his  _ crush  _ Harumi.

Lloyd hated everything. He hated how easily he’d fallen in love with a simple twist of affection, right into her clawed hands to play puppet with his heart on lovesick strings. He’d wanted to die again when he saw that his father was back. In that fight inside Kryptarium Prison, Lloyd had seriously considered giving up. Letting a demonised version of his father finish him off so he could meet the  _ true  _ him. His body was so tired, his mind so shattered and fractured, that Lloyd was prepared to lie there quietly, and let his father snap his body in two.

He was that done with saving the universe, and not having it save him.

He hated running from his home. He’d hated the idea of his brothers dying in the cursed fist of his father's Colossus, hated letting Skylor poison herself, hated having Pixal, Nya and Misako risk their necks, hated hiding and plotting when he should have ended it outright from the beginning. Wrung his own neck for the Sons of Garmadon to see that Lloyd Garmadon was fucking  _ done  _ with this.

And then, after defeating him in the slightest, by purely  _ annoying  _ his father into getting his elemental power back, Lloyd had to fight the Oni.

In that fight, he had silently succumbed in the moment, knowing no greater evil could touch Ninjago. Knowing all was well, and would continue to be with Lloyd Garmadon cursing their lands so that his destiny could let him keep saving them. That’s all the Green Ninja was, really. It was his destiny to save things and emerge victorious, there always had to be a ‘greater evil’. Now there wasn’t, and Lloyd could stop. Pass peacefully.

Now, he was camping with the First Spinjitzu Master, his grandfather Poino, and his dragon, Dragon.

“Lloyd?”

“Hm?” sleepily raising his head, Lloyd found Poino on his feet again. 

“Walk with me.”

Lloyd stretched his legs, the gi fabric rippling with the moment. Then he joined Poino’s side as they took a long walk of the outermost circumference of their campsite.

“Lloyd, do you know what Poino means?”

He shook his head, hoping this wasn’t a philosophy lesson. That there was some ending to his journey, some finality.

“Poino means  _ cursed _ .”

Lloyd hid his surprised expression fairly well.

“For the bane of my existence, even the mere memory of me, I have been a living curse. In our universe, there must always be one. One being to shake a fist at. One being to lay your curses on. One being to blame for all your troubles. I have been that being, though it may not appear at first sight.”

Lloyd realised he hadn’t seen his grandfather’s face the entire time he’d been...wherever this was.

His breath caught as Poino tipped the rim of his rice hat up.

It was a gruesome mess. Burnt flesh. Words scarred across his cheeks. Wrinkles. A horrifying sight so bad Lloyd wanted to puke, and he’d had his fair share of grotesque injuries. Poino laughed hollowly.

“You know another thing, boy? I am immortal. I may have died in that feeble mortal body, but so long as there is memory of my name, people will curse me. And I will hurt in ways most unimaginable,  _ forever _ . That is, unless…”

A sinking feeling entered Lloyd’s stomach. “Unless...what?”

“Unless my curse is passed on. And I seem to have found the perfect candidate to live in torture I will take  _ pleasure  _ in forever. Someone just as immortal as me, a legend and a hero.”

Lloyd froze.

“He will watch his friends die, he will watch his city suffer, he will watch his city crumble, and he will watch as people  _ curse  _ his name for abandoning them.”

They stopped their walk, and Poino’s voice lowered to nothing but a whisper.

“That someone is you, Lloyd Montogomery Garmadon. Welcome to the curse of immortal eternity.”

  
  


_ Dying is  _ **_easy_ ** _ young man, _

_ Living is harder _

**▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬**

**Right Hand Man,** **_Hamilton_ **

**4:09 ━━━━━━━━━ 5:21**

**◅◅ ▷ ▻▻**

  
  
  


**A/N: woah. That was one heck of a pt 2. Like i said in the first part, i kept thinking about lloyd’s curse as the green ninja, all the opportunities he had, and so on. Then i thought of the fsm sitting up there, watching everything. Why didn’t he show his face? How has he been alive for so long? I finally came to my own conclusion that legends are immortal so long as they are remembered. Poino (it does actually mean cursed btw) has been that ‘legend’ for so long, and he’s roped lloyd into a spiteful game so he can truly rest. As long as people remember lloyd, hate him or love him, he’ll live forever watching through a sort of glass, seeing his people suffer. Making him rethink his choices, y’know. I wrote the 1k words over three days and then i churned out 1.5k in one night like some butter mill idk anymore-**

**I don’t really have much else to say tbh… so?**

**-dommie out**


	9. 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖋

**zane**

He took in two measured breathes, then dived in with the tweezers, gently extracting the bullet. It didn’t hurt - why should it? He was a nindroid. Nonetheless, the code made it so that Zane felt the closest replication of pain. Hissing, he dropped the offending missile into a metal tray on the rickety armrest of the seat. With a sigh, he began the slow, careful process of cleaning the wound - for him, at least it involved tools and a bit of tricky wiring. Then again, Zane was used to that. He did end up winding a roll of medical wrap, thin enough to let him move but enough time to keep him from moving  _ too  _ much in order to let his systems repair whatever he couldn’t from the outside. 

Wincing, he stood up, throwing a disgusted look towards the bullet laying in the dish. Bullets for Zane were not fatal, unless aimed in the right places, but he’d reinforced those areas with thin, strong layers of titanium in case such an event did happen. No, it was more psychological. Zane felt...expendable. Technology growth and expertise was growing rapidly and it was becoming easier to repair little wounds or even bigger messes, but sometimes he felt like a single use baby-bum wipe.

You use one, throw it away, and boom. There’s another. The mess of the initial wipe is cleared away, leaving you with a clean slate. Because of his use-one-there’s-another aspect, Zane was constantly reuploading his memories, skills, lessons and hard drive up to the mega computer in the monastery. Not on the Bounty though, the ship was in constant danger and if someone stole his data, well, another problem for the ninja to deal with.

He descended the stairs, using his feet to check if the floorboards could hold up - he’d been in too much of a rush, racing through Crashcourse Canyon and the Glacier Barrens to the closest place where he could hide to check the strength of the boards. Birchwood Forest. Admittedly, it had taken some time for his GPS to lock on the giant, hollowed out tree that had once been his home. These low-life criminals were more organised than anticipated, and having been on a  _ solo  _ mission, Zane had quickly assessed the situation and knew this was the best place.

The hidden workshop was the base of his memories, at least, one he’d remembered after the switch had been turned on. One hand wrapped around his chest where the bandage was, he stalked around the room, smiling dimly at the memories that popped up. Learning his first major skills, spending time with his father...then, discovering he was an android. The smile fell, and he sat down on the thin bed in the corner where the memory of his father passing took place.

His smile hadn’t dropped, now it was more...confused. Ever since discovering that his father was alive (ignoring the fact that he’d properly passed away later), Zane couldn’t help but feel a little  _ mad  _ at him. If anything, violated. Because Zane was a nindroid, it was common afterthought for people to think two things. One, that he was incapable of feeling emotions, such as love. And two, he wasn’t really human. Of course he didn’t have flesh and bone, but he had as much humanity as they did.

Really, the same things had applied to him when he first started training to become a ninja. His brothers had always been wary of him, cautious of his strange behaviours and he’d lived a fair amount of his life with no reasoning as to why. Pixal had always known that she was of metal though, and she grew with the knowledge, allowing her to fit in seamlessly with society.

If only his father left the memory switch alone, maybe Zane wouldn’t be classified as the ‘weird’ one of the ninja team, even after all these years. It still hurt, being left out of TV interviews, shows, activities, and other typical human things simply because he acted oddly. Maybe he held a small grudge against his father. Maybe he didn’t.

The longer he stared at the empty, dust laid bed, the more the ache in his chest spread, the harder his nails dug into his palms, the longer his brain was going in circles.

His thoughts would have run grooves in his head if he hadn’t been interrupted by the door of the workshop creaking open. Immediately, his hand jumped to the pair of shurikens casually laying on the table. He let out a slow breath of relief as Pixal stepped in, her green eyes flashing with worry as she assessed him.

“I received your distress signal.” she said softly, sitting down next to him. “How is the wound?”

“Fine.” he murmured, emotions too clogged up to think. “Did the others succeed in capturing them?”

“Yes, the criminals were apprehended shortly after your beacon flared.”

“This place confuses me.” the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, tumbling over one another. “I have happy memories, with my father, achieving my true potential, meeting Master Wu, yet...he betrayed me.”

Pixal only cocked her head, letting him speak rushed thoughts.

“He thought I was too vulnerable to be able to handle his death, perhaps I would have been but...he  _ lied  _ to me. For so long I didn’t remember anything, thought him dead, and when he finally died...I—I. I felt  _ strange _ . Like I’d been freed from an invisible cage.”

“I am...somewhat angry at my father too.” Pixal admitted shyly, his eyes jumping to hers.  _ Go on _ , the ice in his eyes melted - just for her, only for her. “He must have made the decision to create my evil coding - the coding the Overlord used, I mean.”

She paused there, looking to Zane. The Overlord was a touchy subject for both of them. It brought back painful, excruciating memories for both of them, and Zane knew from whispered nights that Pixal still had nightmares of her possession. Nodding for her to continue, Zane gave her a reassuring smile.

“Therefore, that means he must have had the option to not input that coding. Sometimes, sometimes I try to get it out of my system, the remnants of it were still there, but I  _ can’t _ .” she whispered, looking down to her hands shakily. “It’s always there. He  _ put  _ it there.”

“It scares me, that a person with enough knowledge could turn us against each other. We are so vulnerable, not from the outside, but from the inside. And my father took advantage of that, and—and he used me like a  _ pawn _ . I was a pawn in a game that was so dangerous it could have destroyed Ninjago. It would have been my fault, if you traced everything back, that the Overlord truly rose to power.”

Zane looked her in the eyes, at the stark fear in the swirling green he found comfort in. “But without the Overlord, I don’t think I would have found love.” 

“What?” Pixal breathed in confusion.

“Without the Overlord, I would never have realised how quickly I came to care for you. And I got to know you better than I know myself when you helped me rebuild my physical body. Pixal, you are my other half for a reason. I would not have given half my core to someone I didn’t trust, who I didn’t love. The Overlord is in our past, and despite the horrible things we’ve had to endure, I am still yours. I will always be yours.”

She smiled through watery eyes. “Zane, it is not a bad thing that you hold a grudge against your father. It is perfectly normal, though mostly with other reasoning, that a son might be angry with his father. It was an important decision, and it led you on a journey of self discovery. You achieved your True Potential because you realised who you  _ were _ , inside and outside.” She held her palm over his core, “It is okay to be vulnerable. Despite what people may think, we can still feel everything that is happening to us, and it doesn’t mean that you should pretend you can’t.”

He looked down, shaken yet treasuring her words. 

“I am your other half,” Pixal smiled softly.

“And I am yours.”

**-**

**A/N: okay first of all, I am** **_so_ ** **sorry @SpaceCloud413 on wattpad, this oneshot was way overdue, but I hope I did well! I don’t write a lot of romance but this prompt was really interesting and a wonderful idea. I feel like it’s a little short, but when I write emotions I think in real life they go by too fast to think about a lot. I have a one shot called ‘Skyfall’ in progress, a Kai one, and another for Harumi titled ‘Silence’. They’ll both be pretty short but I’ll try to release them tomorrow!**


	10. 𝖘𝖐𝖞𝖋𝖆𝖑𝖑

_s k y f a l l_

❝  _ an au in which nya’s element is found earlier, and morro makes the decision to control the master of water.  _ ❞ 

❝  _ nya, possessed by morro, drowns her brother alive as skyfall plays in the background dramatically.  _ ❞ 

**▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬**

❝  _ This is the end _

_ Hold your breath and count to ten _

_ Feel the earth moving and then _

_ Hear my heart burst again _

_ For this is the end  _ ❞

**_▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬_ **

**Skyfall,** **_Adele_ **

**_0:00━━━━━━━━━4:46_ **

**_◅◅ ▷ ▻▻_ **

**kai**

It was remarkable how quickly fear took over.

Simply put, Kai was drowning.

_ Let the skyfall _

The water took him like a snake.

_ When it crumbles _

He didn’t even try and fight it

_ We will stand tall _

His mind shattered as the water forced itself down his throat, turning it raw as the salt scorched the inside to pain.

_ And face it all together _

Quick and painless, the Dark Water churned him from inside out like a gutted fish.

_ Let the skyfall _

He could hear faint screaming, and he opened his mouth to yell back and tears burst from his eyes, the water forcing him down, down,  _ down _ . Four blots of green, blue, white and black stained his murky vision as the water turned into an air bubble around him, teasing him with quick breaths of air, dragging him down to the depths of Stiix’s water where strangleweed would be waiting to devour him. His fear of water was really not helping as his brain turned foggy.

The blots got closer and closer and Kai weakly reached for the closest when a whip of Dark Water yanked him back. Then another colour entered his vision - a blue green. His sister, but not his sister. Nya, possessed by Morro. Just the thought of it gave him new energy as he thrashed around, fighting his fear in his mind and outside.

**_Not yet_ ** , hissed the Dark Water.  **_Lie in wait for the truth._ **

She looked hollow - so thin and so hollow - but Morro’s rage seeped through her eyes, and her lips parted into a cruel smile that faltered a little once her eyes rested on Kai. Then the first goopy strand of strangleweed twisted around his ankle and pulled him into a vicious jerk, his sister cackling wildly as she twirled through the water towards him.

How could he have let this happen? When he’d finally taken that step away from overprotectiveness, letting Nya do her own thing without him breathing down on her neck in a brotherly way, she'd been possessed by one of Wu’s former students? Kai’s fingers tore at the cuffs of strangleweed on his ankles, trying to grab a shard of floating coral to cut it off. But it was too strong, and the swirling tornado was tossing his weak body around like a ragdoll. 

The water forced him towards an underwater cave, and too tired to fight back anymore Kai let it throw him onto the sandy floor of the cave. The natural porthole in the side was stoppered with Nya’s powers after she gracefully landed inside, a cruel smirk on her face. Hissing as the strangleweed retreated, leaving his limbs red and raw, Kai scrambled away from his possessed sister until his back hit a rock wall. 

“Nya, this isn’t you, please—”

“Shut up.” she snapped, pacing the cave whilst rubbing at her temples. “I knew I should have taken Lloyd instead. Her mind is so full of doubts and yelling at me through that stupid little cage I put her in, I should have sound proofed it.”

“Nya’s in a cage? Get her out of there  _ right  _ now, or, or I’ll—”

“Or you’ll what?” she drawled, dropping to a squat in front of him. “You’re a lone, in a cave, miles underwater. What are you gonna do, Kai Smith?”

He searched the cave for something he could use to knock her out, for long enough that he would be friends until his friends followed his tracker with a better form of transport than their bare bodies. But there was nothing he could do except try and stall her, try to get Nya back. If Nya could take over her body, long enough that Morro could come in contact with water then they could destroy him together.

“I heard a rumour,” he said slowly, “That  _ you  _ thought you were the Green Ninja. Look how that turned out.”

Morro jerked forwards, but something inside him recoiled the movement.  _ Nya!  _ Kai cheered as her eyes flashed from the possessed murky green to ocean blue, then back to Morro’s.  _ If I can provoke him, I’ll give Nya the chance to fight him inside.  _

“ _ And _ , I heard a rumour that you went in search of the First Spinjitzu Master’s Tomb because you thought that would get you the job.” Kai laughed hoarsely and shakily got to his feet. “I heard another rumour that Wu didn’t believe in you.”

Morro-Nya growled. Kai pranced around a bit teasingly, mocking Morro’s strange gait from when he walked. 

“I heard a rumour that you’re jealous of Lloyd for being the Green Ninja, but you chose to possess my sister instead. How dumb is that?” He cringed inwards at the beating he’d receive later from Nya, but carried on. “I heard a rumour that Wu didn’t even come  _ looking  _ for you, you came to him and begged, and begged, and begged—”

“SHUT UP!” Morro roared, his eyes turning into a kaleidoscope of green and blue as he and Nya fought mentally. Nya dropped to the ground like a stone, curling inwards as her body shook with pain, tearing at the sand on the floor, raking her fingers through her hair as the pain turned unbearable. 

_ It’s Morro,  _ he reminded himself,  _ you’re hurting Morro, not Nya.  _ Then he skipped around her fallen form, yelling obscenities and insults while they wailed in pain. And the final breaking point was when not Kai, and not Morro, when Nya screamed something garbled, pounded her fist to the floor and the cave exploded. 

Kai’s body was flung back as the rift slashed through the ocean, turbulent water creating an underwater explosion as a bubble around Nya-Morro swirled. Her body glowed bright blue, shining into white light as another shock split through the water. As it faded, Kai could tell she was Nya again. His little sister, annoying but loved sister, Nya, was finally  _ back _ .

And then he remembered that there was nothing keeping him alive in the water, and the world turned black.

  
  


❝  _ I’ve drowned and dreamt this moment _

_ So overdue I owe them _

_ Swept away, I’m stolen _

_ Let the skyfall  _ ❞

**_▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬_ **

**Skyfall,** **_Adele_ **

**_1:00━━━━━━━━━4:46_ **

  
  


**A/N: not me thinking i’d give this a happy ending. I mean i kinda did. But i didn’t. So. ha. This au was started like a month ago and i wrote the first half, left it, had writer’s block on mos and decided to finish off my pixane oneshot called ‘your half’, and then finished this one. I absolutely love the song skyfall, and it’s so freaking good for dramatic scenes. You may be asking, is kai alive? Kid, i don’t even know myself. Have a good day, and keep an eye out for a harumi oneshot named ‘silence’, which may or may not come out.**

**-dommie out**


	11. 𝖘𝖔𝖗𝖗𝖞 - 𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖎

s o r r y - r u m i

**_!suicidal implications, tw!_ **

❝  _ I’m falling again, I’m falling again _

_ And I get the feeling that you’ll never need me again _

_ ♪ _

_ What am I now? What am I now? _

_ What if you’re someone I just want around?  _ ❞

**_▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬_ **

**Falling,** **_Harry Styles_ **

**_2:37 ━━━━━━━━━ 4:00_ **

**harumi**

She’d never been a quiet child.

But now...she relished in that silence.

Loved the gape of surprise people held when the princess of Ninjago turned out to be the Quiet One.

Loved the bowing because of something she’d  _ done _ , not been brought up into.

Loved the fear in the awe, the respect in the stammers.

When Harumi was younger, she was always talking. She was only silent when she slept or when she ate, satisfied by the hearty, slightly bland, but filling food from the meagre income her parents scraped together. She’d hated silence, hated peace and quiet which her mother and father surely regretted as one of her qualities. She was always playing with her toys, making up stories and heroic adventures, taking great strides across their one-bedroom flat as she mimicked the ninja. 

Silence meant her imagination wasn’t active, meant Harumi wasn’t distracted. It meant that she’d have to see what was going on outside of that little apartment. The city tearing itself apart because of the ninja she’d once worshipped.

Silence now meant she could think. She could plot, she could scheme, she could plan, put that hyper-imagination aside and draw in critical thinking.

Silence around her meant activity in her mind, like it always had been. She was just better at keeping it in her head now.

Harumi realised that she never stopped wearing masks.

There were many layers to her game. Everytime she let someone in, it was a careful, thought out decision. Her mind immediately jumped to how they might be able to manipulate the knowledge, how much she could risk heartfelt moments and a quivering lip. How  _ she  _ could twist that to her advantage and see the knife hurt even more once they learnt she wasn’t a pretty princess doll.

Every mask served a purpose. She swapped each one in and out for every situation, invented new facades in the heat of the moment, learnt how to master these masks as if they were Oni masks themselves. Everything in her life was a game of chess. She made each decision quickly, ranked them from a king to a pawn, who and what to sacrifice, watching the other side move their pieces.

Maybe the other side was Lloyd.

Maybe the other side was younger Harumi.

Harumi gulped down the glass of water quickly, her night thing drenched with sweat. Glancing back, she rolled her eyes at the mess of tangled sheets she’d kicked off the bed. In her dream, she’d been freefalling for what felt like forever, her body jerking randomly as she fell helplessly. 

Sometimes, when she wasn’t dreaming, she felt like she was falling.

Falling out of control, faster than she could think, the silence around her suddenly a deafening, endless weapon. 

Falling was maybe a rook level problem. 

She wasn’t scared of heights, she was scared of falling and never stopping. Falling and having  _ too  _ much silence around her. Her younger self would have solved such a problem with a gigantic trampoline that would follow her around just in case she fell, and if she did, she’d bounce so high she’d be able to taste the cotton candy clouds.

Now she’d just carry a parachute wherever she could. A slim, sleek, efficient design which wouldn’t hinder her in battle. Normally she’d just envision a parachute in her nightmares to fight her way out with a logical solution and solve it quickly.

But this dream had Lloyd in it.

Lloyd, gummy bear eating, comic book reading, soft blonde locks like princess hair, Lloyd.

The only guy she might have unconsciously let in by mistake, without thinking about the consequences until later, because of his soft smiles and rambling, his bursts of confidence and heroics, because he was Lloyd Garmadon and there wouldn’t - couldn’t be anyone else like him.

She couldn’t fix things between them.

Hard to talk to a dead person.

Especially when you were the one that had killed them.

Gods it hurt so bad, but killing him had been like freeing herself from this stupid, stupid internal battle. Her alliance with Garmadon, or with his son? With the boy who’d killed her parents, or the emperor that could bring them back? The nights on the Bounty eating ice cream and watching rooms, when he let her braid his soft hair and passed her gummy worms, and when he saved her traitorous ass countless times just for her to betray him? Or hoping her parents would come back with compassion and feelings unlike Garmadon’s stone cold heart she’d admired?

To see his wounded face of betrayal, reserved but hurt, the way he’d bounced back straight into battle like he didn’t care, had broken her into a thousand pieces. The way he seemed to expect it like nothing in Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon’s life never,  _ ever _ , stayed picture-perfect. What had they both done to deserve this? 

When they were falling, when he tackled her off that building and Garmadon had been screaming in her head to  _ kill him now or die _ , when Lloyd had kissed her for the  _ last time ever  _ when he said he forgave her and everything was okay,  _ don’t cry Rumi _ ,  _ it’ll be okay, I promise _ , he’d whispered, those stupid green eyes saying it all.

And he’d broken the promise. She’d broken hers, too. 

_ Be a good girl, yeah, Rumi?  _ Her dad used to say, and she’d always, always smile and say,  _ yes Papa, always! _

Was it worth everything being messed up now?

Those precious few moments she sobbed over?

Falling for Lloyd Garmadon had possibly been the worst decision in her entire lifetime, but falling for Lloyd Garmadon was like riding a rollercoaster and never getting off. 

Curse the First Spinjitzu Master.

Harumi picked up the kitchen knife and closed her eyes.

Maybe there was a way she could tape their promises back together to give Lloyd Garmadon the life he really deserved.

The knife flashed down.

**a/n: this is a shitty oneshot i cant be stuffed to write anymore, but uh, good harumi au next?**

**Author's Note:**

> sooo if you enjoyed it leave a kudos or comment!


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